Design Leadership Jobs in New York, United States of America
Find your next Design Leadership role at companies that value creative talent
Showing 17 jobs
Design Manager - Aviation
🇺🇸 New York, New York, United States of America
Gensler 🇺🇸 New York, New York, United States of America
Manage the design and delivery of world-class aviation and critical facility projects while acting as the primary liaison between the team and clients. Advise on project feasibility, regulatory conformance, and sustainability initiatives to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon output.
Store Design Manager
🇺🇸 New York, New York, United States of America
Uniqlo 🇺🇸 New York, New York, United States of America
Leads the end-to-end execution of retail store development projects in the U.S., managing schedules, costs, and quality. Coordinates with real estate teams and external vendors to ensure brand standards and local code compliance from feasibility to handover.
About Design Leadership careers
Design leaders in 2026 set the strategic vision for design organizations navigating an AI-saturated market. This role requires a balance of craft expertise and high-level business acumen to advocate for design's value at the executive level.
Effective leaders foster a culture of technical agency, establishing systems that allow human creativity and machine efficiency to coexist.
Companies like Stripe and Airbnb seek VPs and Directors of Design who can scale teams and align design strategy with long-term business objectives.
We feature senior leadership positions including Design Directors, Heads of Design, VP of Design, Chief Design Officers, and design team leads at companies like Meta, Google, Airbnb, Stripe, and fast-growing AI companies like OpenAI and Anthropic. These roles span product design, brand, and cross-functional design organizations.
Many companies offer remote design leadership roles, including distributed-first companies like Notion, Linear, GitLab, and Vercel. AI companies like Midjourney and Anthropic also hire remote design leaders. Some companies prefer hybrid arrangements for VP+ positions.
Most positions require 8–15+ years of design experience with 3–5+ years managing teams. Strong candidates demonstrate strategic thinking, team building, stakeholder management, and a track record of shipping successful products at companies like Figma, Spotify, Netflix, or emerging AI startups. Browse leadership portfolios to see how experienced designers showcase their impact.
Design leadership salaries are highly competitive: Design Directors earn $160k–$240k, VPs of Design $220k–$350k+, and CDOs at major companies can exceed $400k with significant equity packages. AI companies like OpenAI, Anthropic, and Databricks often offer premium total compensation. Consult our salary guide for detailed breakdowns.